This weekly update summarizing legislative activity affecting voting and elections is powered by the Voting Rights Lab. Sign up for VRL’s weekly newsletter here.
The Voting Rights Lab is tracking 2,208 bills so far this session, with 583 bills that tighten voter access or election administration and 1,058 bills that expand the rules. The rest are neutral, mixed or unclear in their impact.
Last week, voters in a number of states had the opportunity to change certain election laws. In Nebraska, voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring photo ID to vote while Michiganders amended their Constitution to increase access to mail voting and in-person early voting and protect against election interference. Connecticut voters also approved an amendment allowing for in-person early voting.
Looking ahead: The Voting Rights Lab is still watching Arizona, where the Legislature asked voters to ratify a new photo identification law that would eliminate many of the ID options currently available to voters. Under current law, a voter can present either a photo ID or two documents with their name and address, such as a utility bill. The proposition would eliminate the second option. It would also require voters to provide a specific ID number, such as their driver’s license number, on their mail ballot envelopes.
Here are the details:
Michigan amends its constitution to increase voting access and protect against election interference. Michigan voters adopted Proposal 2, enshrining nine days of early voting in the state Constitution, expanding mail ballot access and ensuring election results will always be based on the votes cast. The new mail voting provisions provide ballot drop boxes statewide, prepaid ballot return postage, and a permanent list for voters who want to receive a mail ballot each election. Other mail ballot provisions – while new to the Constitution – reflect existing law and practice. These include a right to vote by mail to cure ballot envelope errors. Similarly, Proposal 2 adds the current voter ID rules – which allow voters who do not have an ID with them to vote with a regular ballot if they sign an affidavit affirming their identity – to the Constitution. Finally, the proposition ensures that election audits will be done transparently and professionally, and that elections will be certified smoothly, accurately reflecting the votes cast.
Connecticut poised to adopt early voting. Sixty percent of Connecticut voters supported an amendment to the state Constitution authorizing the General Assembly to establish in-person early voting. Connecticut is currently one of only four states, along with Mississippi, Alabama and New Hampshire, that do not offer all voters an opportunity to cast a ballot before Election Day. It is now up to the legislature to establish the parameters of future early voting opportunities.
Nebraska Constitution amended to require photo ID for voters. A state constitutional amendment requiring photo ID was approved by Nebraska voters with 66 percent of voters supporting the measure. While the details and exceptions will be determined by the Legislature, Nebraska will join the 21 other states that generally require photo ID to vote in person.
Nevada voters take a step toward adopting open primaries and ranked-choice voting. Voters in Nevada narrowly approved an amendment to the state’s Constitution to establish a system wherein five candidates would advance from an open primary. Voters would then rank up to five candidates in the general election. The amendment must be approved by voters again in 2024 in order to take effect.
Ohio amends its Constitution to block cities from allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections. Voters in Ohio approved an amendment to the state’s Constitution to prohibit municipalities from allowing residents who are not U.S. citizens from voting in their local elections. Louisiana will vote on a similar provision on Dec. 10.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.